He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen! (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, NRSV)
How many of us has this happened to? We go out and plant a garden, and there among the good seed we planted, up comes this other stuff!
I mean come on I didn’t plant that stuff. Why are those other plants growing where I sowed my good seed?
And here we would go out and pull the weeds. We want to get rid of the other plants so the seed we planted will get the nutrients, and grow and produce the fruit for which we planted it.
But what is a weed? And how did it get there…
Wally Armbruster in Noodles Du Jour raises this question: “Is a weed a flower that’s the victim of prejudice? (Does God think more of a rose than he does of crab grass?) Are you sure?”
Does God think more of a rose than a thistle?
Why does the master in the parable not have his servants (slaves) pull the weeds? Because in doing so some of the wheat would be pulled up as well, and rather than risk the harvest, you let the weeds grow…
And maybe the weeds are good plants that need more time to mature…
And if we take this to the next level, which are we? Are we wheat or are we weeds?
Yes. The answer is yes! We are both wheat and weeds. As we are both sinner and saint! And if we take out the weeds, we may just be removing us.
You see it is not our job to separate the good from the bad, we are to let it go and be who God has planted us to be, and let the angels sort it out in the end.
So not yet, it’s not time to separate, just be who God has made you to be and go on spreading His love.
aSacredRebel 